City Bar Panel Tackles Police, Community Relations (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, March 5, 2015
City Bar Panel Tackles Police, Community Relations
Police stops, community relations and public housing patrols were among the topics discussed by panelists at a New York City Bar Association event Tuesday. Listen to the discussion. Lawrence Byrne, deputy commissioner for legal matters at the New York City Police Department, said stops and frisks, while legally valid, had become an “overused” tool contributing to community mistrust of police. The number of stops has been dropping sharply, he noted. Robert Gangi, director of the Police Reform Organizing Project, said the scaled-back approach under Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton was a “victory.” Nevertheless, he challenged the “broken windows” theory of policing that he said disproportionately affects minority communities.
